Sigma Phi Epsilon Educational Foundation
Regional director education endowed in honor of Ken Maddox By Jason M. St. John, Mar yland-College Park β94
Former SigEp Executive Director Ken Maddox takes a call in his Zollinger House office in 1994.
Ken Maddox, Oregon State β75, spent the ο¬rst seven years of his career serving SigEp as a member of the Headquarters staff. Just ο¬ve years after leaving to pursue professional opportunities back home in the Northwest, he was tapped to return to the Fraternityβs Richmond ofο¬ce as executive director in 1987. Upon his return, Maddox described his objective for his new role in the May 1987 Journal, saying his intention was to βbring out the best in people.β βI hope to make it my job to do that with the Headquarters staff so we, as a staff, can do that with the undergraduate members of the Fraternity,β he explained. On June 24, 2016, his brothers declared βmission accomplishedβ when the Fraternity surprised Maddox by announcing the endowment of the
40
sigep journal Fall 2016 | sigep.org
regional director training program, now named the Kenneth S. Maddox Summer Development Program. Surrounded by dozens of past regional directors, volunteers and staff at Zollinger House, former Regional Director, past Grand Secretary and Order of the Golden Heart recipient Shawn McKenna, Maine β77, revealed that the Fraternity had endowed the program. Sparked by conversations among SigEp CEO Brian Warren, Virginia β04, and former staff members about how much Maddox has influenced them, the project had been quietly in the making for a year prior to the gathering. Another former regional director and SigEpβs current Grand Secretary, Thomas B. Jelke, Florida International β90, proudly stated, βKen Maddox was summer development. He set the tone for
how the regional directors were going to be educated. He set the tone for what was going to be expected of you as a worker for the organization. There was a professional ethic, a work ethic that was demanded by him. It is a no-brainer for me that I would help fund something to honor Ken that surrounded the concept of summer development for our regional directors.β The Kenneth S. Maddox Summer Development Program is an in-depth, 10-week training period for SigEpβs regional directors. Held each summer in Richmond, Virginia, the program includes sessions with facilitators from the corporate, higher education and nonprofit worlds and educates new staff in leadership, finance, sales, recruitment, public speaking, crisis management and many other areas. Participants also attend executive-level management classes at the University of Richmond. SigEp has provided professional support to its chapters since 1922 when Clarence Freeark, Illinois β23, served as the first traveling secretary, a role now known as regional director. While serving as a regional director during the 1975-1976 school year, Maddox came to understand the tremendous impact that regional directors have on undergraduate chapters, their members, volunteers and college campuses. It was during his tenure as executive director that Maddox transformed summer development into a world-class professional training program. In the process, he made an indelible mark on the 106 regional directors who served the Fraternity under his leadership. And as the creator of a blueprint for summer development still in use today, Maddox has impacted the many hundreds of regional directors who have gone through the program since his time on staff.